Frankfurt/Brussels, 22 Oktober 2025 – On the occasion of the meeting of EU Heads of State or Government in Brussels and the European Commission's proposal for a Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), Thilo Brodtmann, the Executive Director of VDMA, said:

• "The proposed amendments to the Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) are a step in the right direction. The European Commission has finally recognised that a single due diligence check is sufficient when the product enters the EU market. It is good that small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in particular are exempt from the obligations of the EUDR. Even though we would have liked to see an even more comprehensive revision, it is now important to quickly adopt this amendment in the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union."

• "Basically, the EU Member States must finally follow up their commitments to strengthening competitiveness with action. Since the beginning of the legislative period, the EU Member States have emphasised that Europe's competitiveness is at stake and that the issue is a top priority.  However, announcements do not bring any relief to companies. This is particularly true when it comes to reducing bureaucracy: not a single law has been abolished or fundamentally simplified in this area."

• "Europe's economy will not become more competitive if politicians focus primarily on rescuing industries currently in crisis – at the expense of other industries. There is a danger that precisely those industries that are still competitive, such as mechanical and plant engineering, will be overlooked and neglected – or even become collateral damage."

• "The Draghi report's ruthless analysis points the way forward: Europe must catch up in terms of growth, productivity and innovation. What is needed is a comprehensive industrial policy strategy that promotes key technologies and research, improves the framework conditions for all companies and advances the Single Market and the Capital Markets Union. The ball is in the court of the heads of state and government represented in the Council, who must finally overcome national egoisms."

VDMA represents 3600 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and SMEs. The companies employ around 3 million people in the EU-27, more than 1.2 million of them in Germany alone. This makes mechanical and plant engineering the largest employer among the capital goods industries, both in the EU-27 and in Germany. In the European Union, it represents a turnover volume of an estimated 870 billion euros.
Around 80 percent of the machinery sold in the EU comes from a manufacturing plant in the domestic market.